Something Like Loss
by sapphiestar
Summary: Green isn't who he thought he'd be, and Red doesn't know himself. Hinted Originalshipping


**Author's Note: This story is akin to me stretching. I have an idea for a similar story, although much longer and more in depth, so this is just to warm up and test the waters so to speak. Unedited in any way, but please enjoy.**

One day doesn't look different from another on top of Mt. Silver. The sky is just as grey on Tuesday as it is on Wednesday, and the stone is just as bitingly cold in March as in July.

Red has been here for weeks, months, _years_. With no plans, no visitors, and no holidays there isn't much need for calendars and dates.

Red wonders, sometimes, how long it's been since he's seen _his_ face.

Being a gym leader isn't everything Green thought it would be. Few trainers actually make it far enough to challenge him, so Green spends most of his days idly sipping coffee and watching his pokemon laze about the empty gym for hours on end.

Back when Green was a kid, with great talent and even greater dreams, he always imagined being a famous trainer with hundred of adoring fans and new adventures around every corner. But now that Green's older and has made a name for himself, he finds himself alone in a drafty gym and a phone that's sat silent for weeks.

Green wonders, sometimes, _all the time,_ if Red is doing any better.

Red loses himself on the mountain, the laugh in his voice stolen by the vicious wind and the glimmer is his eyes by the darkness of the cave.

Not that Red ever really knew himself to begin with. For so long Red was not Red but Red's goal. Be a pokemon master. Be the champion.

Beat Green.

Red became the champion, but so far all it has brought him is an icy isolation. He doesn't know when he can leave, if at all. He's not even sure he wants to.

Red wonders, sometimes, if Green found what he was looking for.

Green is small, only seven years old. He lives with his Grandpa, the famous Professor Oak, who won't tell Green where his parents are no matter how many times he tugs on the end of the long lab coat that swishes behind Oak with every step.

Green doesn't know Pallet Town. He knows pokemon, though, and so most days he sits with his picture book in the shade outside flipping through glossy pages and memorizing the names of creatures he will one day befriend, one day lead to victory. The summer spins on around him, but Green is too enthralled by the vision he sees of his future self to notice the passage of time.

Red is getting bigger every day, only a few months away from his eighth birthday. His father left sometime long ago, but Red can only remember his absence and his Mom won't speak of it.

Red knows Pallet Town. He's been to every place worth being, and knows every person worth knowing.

Except, that is, for the chocolate-haired boy curled up beneath a tree in the yard of the house down the street. Red, who can never leave something unknown or a mystery unsolved, investigates.

"I'm going to be a pokemon master one day!" Red shouts, throwing his hands into the sky. Green lays beside him on the tall grass, humming softly as he stares up at the clouds rolling by.

"Me too." Red frowns at this, rolling onto his side.

"You're silly! We can't BOTH be pokemon masters! Don't worry though, you can be my number two!" Red laughs to himself, flopping back onto his back. He chatters on, not noticing that Green has fallen silent.

Green notices that nobody in town knows his name. He is the child of Professor Oak or Red's Little Friend, never Green.

He swears, one day, he'll number one. He'll be some famous and so powerful that everyone will know his name, and they won't avoid his questions about his parents.

One day.

Red notices his mother stare off into the distance sometimes when she thinks he isn't looking. Red was never any good at mathematics, but when he sees her run her fingers along the edge of her wedding band Red can put two plus two together.

He swears, one day, he'll be so famous and so powerful that he'll be able to bring his father back from wherever he's gone. He'll be able to do anything, as the champion, and then he'll come back and he'll never leave.

One day.

Green has a challenger, the first in a month. The boy has a glint in his eyes that Green knows well, and he feels something twist painfully in his chest.

Green loses quickly, a powerful attack sending his last pokemon sprawling and Green to his knees. He doesn't stand up, shoving a badge into the trainers waiting hands without even looking up.

"This wasn't a fair fight." The challenger says at length. Green snarls, looking up through the mess of hair hanging in front of his eyes.

"You saying I'm not good enough to be a gym leader?" He words are biting and strong, but Green hears the crack in his voice.

"You're missing a piece. Your other half." Green's breath catches in his through, and he blinks hard at the ground to ward off the tears.

Green remains defeated on the ground for several quiet minutes.. The trainer pauses on his way out the door, turning to look back into he dim and dusty interior of the gym.

"I'll find Red, make him come back. Maybe then we can have a real battle." And before Green can ask him how he knows of Red the trainer is gone, and Green hears nothing but the whistle of the wind for a long time after that.

The cave of Mt. Silver has been scarred by the battle, new gaping holes in the sides letting thick blocks of sunlight break though and the cold mountain wind whip through.

Red stands, defeated. He doesn't crumple in defeat or shout curses to the sky. Red just stands, expression hidden in shadow as he stares at a fixed point beneath him.

"Green needs you." Red looks up, startled. This is the first the challenger has spoken.

"How do you...?" His voice is rusty from disuse, and Red clears his throat before continuing.

"How do you know Green?" Red gets no answer, for the newly proven master is walking away from the cave and away from Red.

Red stands hesitating in front of the door to the Viridian Gym. It's been so long...

The door creaks open, and Red takes a few steps inside.

Green is there, sprawled out asleep in the middle of his gym. Red treads over softly, kneeling lightly next to his long time rival, long time something else entirely.

Green's face twitches, and Red absently reaches out the smooth away the lines from the young face. His touch rouses Green, green eyes cracking open blearily.

"...Red?" The voice is quiet, broken. Red breaks into a smile, the first in years.


End file.
